Sky Lark

Summer 1914 Irish Nurse Emily Halpin marries Charles Eyre. He enlists with Emily’s brother Tom and friend William bound for France. Soon Tom is killed, followed by the disappearance of Charles. Frantic with worry and determined to find Charles, Emily and best friend Jane join the Nursing Corps. Her efforts to protect the men in her care irrespective of their nationality almost led to disaster... More

Sky Lark is a powerful, poetic and sensitive new fictional novel by Irish writer Joseph Francis Ledwidge about the realities of World War One. Ledwidge’s novel tells of Irish Nurse Emily Halpin, the novel concentrates on Emily’s life in Ireland and France before and during World War One. How in the Summer of 1914 as the drums of war began to sound, Emily’s childhood sweetheart Charles Eyre and his two best friends, her brother Tom Halpin and William Hunt are drawn to the war and enlist into the British Forces bound for France. Shortly before they leave Emily marries Charles Eyre. Soon the heartache began with first the death of her brother Tom followed some time later by the disappearance of her husband Charles. Frantic with worry and uncertainty Emily is determined to find news of Charles. Emily and her best friend Jane enlisted as Nurses with the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, and soon found themselves working at a Field Hospital on the Western Front. Overwhelmed by danger and fatigue, their strength, courage, and reserve are tested, the horrors of war challenged Emily’s conflicting state of mind as she began to unravel and change. Her efforts to protect the wounded men in her care irrespective of their nationality almost led to disaster… Sky lark captures the courage of Irish Nurse Emily Halpin and the indomitable perseverance of the human spirit.

Joseph Francis Ledwidge grew up in Bray County Wicklow Ireland. He presently lives in County Wicklow, Ireland with his wife. Joseph has always had an interest in writing, especially poetry. In 2004 he began writing his first fictional novel Sky Lark about an Irish nurse who enlisted in the Great War. Joseph has spent eight years researching and writing Sky Lark, his research brought him to the battlefields of France for long periods on many occasions. The sensitive and reflective poems in Sky Lark are written by Joseph. Although the characters are fictional many of the events encountered by the characters in the book follow certain events, timelines, and actual locations during the Great War.